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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Increasing levels of automation and new applications are currently shaping industrial laser technology. High-performance lasers and photonic technolo-gies are opening up new growth prospects, particularly in microelectronics, energy, aerospace, and medical technology. These developments driving the industry were discussed in April at AKL’26 – the International Laser Technol-ogy Congress in Aachen. For 30 years now, the AKL has served as the plat-form where users, manufacturers, and developers exchange information on the current state of the art and the latest trends in industrial laser technology.
Moderate growth in the laser market
The Technology Business Day traditionally kicks off the congress with several presentations on the current market situation. Dr. Thierry Robin (TEMATYS) identified moderate growth in the laser market, from 14.5 billion USD in 2024 to over 15.5 billion USD in 2025. Dr. Stefan Ruppik (Coherent), a member of the Executive Board of the VDMA’s Laser and Laser Systems for Material Processing Working Group, saw a very similar trend: The global market for laser material processing systems grew by 4 percent. However, Dr. Henrikki Pantsar (then still with TRUMPF) pointed out that investments by automakers in the U.S. have plummeted. Still, high spending on new data centers promises growing sales for laser manufacturers.
Dr. Bo Gu’s (BOS Photonics) presentation on the Chinese laser market was eagerly anticipat-ed. Growth there remains solid, as evidenced by the trade shows held in China. According to Gu, LASER Shanghai set new records in March with 1,500 exhibitors and 58,000 visitors. In the Chinese market for laser material processing systems, he anticipates growth of 6 to 7 percent for both 2025 and 2026. The fiber laser market has grown by 9.8 percent, while the market for ultrashort-pulse (USP) lasers has grown by as much as 14.7 percent.
However, Gu’s figures on the market share of Chinese manufacturers in their home market were striking: For lasers with 3 to 6 kW of power, this share stands at 98 percent, and for those with >10 kW, it is about 80 percent. Thus, the Chinese laser market is firmly in domes-tic hands.
Photonics as a cross-sectional technology
While sales of laser-based machine tools are generally estimated at between 10 and 20 bil-lion euros, the market for laser-enabled products is in the trillions. No smartphone, no com-puter chip, and hardly any car is produced today without the use of laser technology. Pho-tonics is the cross-cutting technology that, with the help of lasers, optical components, and complex processes, enables the industry to make progress in these areas.
At AKL’26, trends in the application of photonic technologies were discussed under the heading “New Perspectives for Lasers in Science and Industry” during the Gerd Herziger session. Trevor Ness (IPG Photonics) presented a clear vision: “Lasers will become integrated, scalable, and intelligent.” Robots equipped with lasers will achieve significant productivity gains and will also work in environments where humans cannot.
The photonic components and technologies required for this are being developed today. They are increasingly digitized and offer ever-higher performance. “The average power of USP lasers,” says Dr. Jochen Stollenwerk, acting director of the Fraunhofer ILT in Aachen, “is reaching the double-digit kilowatt (kW) range thanks to developments at the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Advanced Photon Sources—CAPS.” For continuous-wave lasers, the power has now even exceeded 100 kW, according to representatives from various compa-nies.
Prof. Constantin Häfner, Fraunhofer Executive Board Member for Research and Transfer, looked beyond these limits. He is focusing on fusion power plants and how they can be made a reality in Germany. They would also significantly transform the laser market: Accord-ing to Häfner, the cost of laser diodes for just a few fusion power plants alone would exceed the volume of the current laser market. This means, first and foremost, that component costs will have to drop significantly in the future.
Lasers in the energy sector
With the Fusion Action Plan, the German government has not only announced more than two billion euros for fusion research, but has also set itself the goal of building the world’s first fusion power plant in Germany. In his plenary presentation, Constantin Häfner ad-dressed the importance of the emerging fusion ecosystems for the future of fusion research in Germany: the pooling of national expertise—from science to industry—to achieve com-mon goals.
The complex technological challenges offer enormous potential for tapping into spin-off markets and driving growth in the photonics market—ranging from industrial dry processes to space applications and the defense sector. The topic of fusion research was explored in depth during an entire session at AKL’26. Among other things, Prof. Markus Roth (TU Darm-stadt, Focused Energy) presented his plans for a laser fusion facility at the Biblis site.
“Standard” high-power lasers are already in use today in power plant construction: “The energy sector is one of the first areas of application for laser systems with power outputs exceeding 50 kW,” states Dr. Alexander Olowinsky, head of the Joining and Cutting De-partment at Fraunhofer ILT. At such laser power levels, doors in wind turbines can be cut as can thick steel walls when nuclear power plants are decommissioned. Similarly, new contain-ers with walls several decimeters thick can be welded using this technology.
Conference attendees were able to view a 50 kW system as part of the “Laser Technology Live” event on April 23, 2026, at Fraunhofer ILT, Europe’s largest R&D laser facility.
Automotive technology on the path to autonomous manufacturing
Automobile manufacturing is now highly automated. As digital tools, lasers fully demon-strate their advantages in this context. In his presentation “Next-Generation Battery Produc-tion and Challenges for Laser Technology,” Dr. Andreas Russ (Bosch Manufacturing Solu-tions) demonstrated what is possible today. Compared to 2015, both battery and machine sizes have multiplied. At the same time, the machines are becoming increasingly intelligent. The production line is networked, uses digital twins, and can make autonomous decisions based on simulations.
Markus Harke (Volkswagen) demonstrated how a German process is literally changing the world. Using high-speed laser material deposition—developed at Fraunhofer ILT—the com-pany manufactures brake discs that produce 90 percent less fine dust. This not only protects the environment but also meets the Euro 7 standard. And it enables largely automated pro-duction, which is now taking the world by storm. “With such high production volumes, the laser is no longer the cost driver,” comments Dr. Thomas Schopphoven, head of the Laser Material Deposition Department at Fraunhofer ILT. “It’s primarily the material costs for the filler materials.”
Lasers in the aviation industry reduce costs and emissions
Up to 3 percent fuel savings for aircraft—that’s the promise of the “shark skin” technology from 4Jet GmbH in Alsdorf near Aachen. This technology, which won the “Innovation Award Laser Technology 2026,” enables large-scale micro-machining using a CO₂ laser. It uses inter-ference patterns for machining, allowing over 1,000 “riblets” to be created in a single pass. The technology generates microstructures across large surfaces that reduce aerodynamic drag. The company now has more than 800 systems in operation; they are used in the avia-tion, semiconductor, and solar industries.
In addition, many laser processes have become standard practice, particularly in laser material deposition. Companies such as Rolls-Royce are successfully using these methods to repair engines and are continually refining them.
Using lasers 24/7 in microelectronics
In the beginning, the laser was a solution in search of a problem. Today, laser technology in its many forms plays a key role in the mass production of electronic consumer goods. This is particularly evident in display manufacturing, as demonstrated in Oliver Haupt’s (Coherent) presentation on the prospects for laser applications in micro-LEDs. In microelectronics, the next breakthrough is already on the horizon.
In his presentation, Dr. Christian Buchner (SCHMID Group) demonstrated that glass sub-strates can solve the bottleneck caused by increasing data transfer rates between processors and high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Glass is robust, inexpensive, and well-established in semiconductor processes. With selective laser-induced etching (SLE), users can now drill pre-cise holes in transparent materials such as glass (through-glass vias). This industrial process generates excellent surface quality and high aspect ratios.
“Another trend in microelectronics is beam shaping,” explains Dr. Dennis Haasler, head of the Micro- and Nanostructuring Group at Fraunhofer ILT. “Both specialized beam shapes, such as Bessel beams, and multi-beam systems are increasingly being used in industry.” The latter allow for the parallelized use of ultrashort laser pulses in particular.
Lasers in medical technology provide greater safety for patients
From diagnosis to treatment, optical technologies have become an indispensable part of everyday clinical practice. The concrete benefits, as outlined by Prof. Christian Blume, a neu-rosurgeon at UK Aachen (the university teaching hospital), are truly impressive. Using com-plex spinal surgeries as examples, he demonstrated how the success rate has risen in recent years from 40 percent (freehand surgery) to 99.5 percent. The breakthrough came with in-traoperative computed tomography. The SaveCut project promises to take safety a step fur-ther. In this project, experts from Fraunhofer ILT are collaborating with him to develop a robot-assisted laser osteotome for minimally invasive spinal surgery.
Similar major advances are taking place in implantology. Additive laser processes have been used there for some time to create custom implant shapes. In his presentation, Frank Reinauer (KLS Martin) demonstrated how digital workflows make patient-specific solutions using selective laser melting even more effective. This method allows 5 to 15 implants to be produced in a single run. New resorbable materials, such as magnesium alloys or polyeth-ylene, promote the growth of bone tissue. The implant gradually dissolves in the body.
Where is quantum technology headed?
“We gained an excellent overview of some of the most promising platforms for scalable quantum computers—presented by leading companies and research institutions from Ger-many and Europe,” said Dr. Bernd Jungbluth, summarizing his impressions of the first day of the AKL’26 conference.
The focus was primarily on current advances in various hardware platforms for quantum computers—including those based on neutral atoms at planqc. Prof. Stephanie Wehner (Quantum Internet Alliance) also provided an overview of the current state of the quantum internet and outlined initial short-term application prospects, such as in the field of coordi-nating distributed systems. In the long term, the interconnection of quantum computers will also become more and more important. Photonic interfaces are considered a key technology for this, as they make it possible to transmit quantum information over fiber-optic networks and can connect different quantum platforms with one another.
AI makes lasers faster, more flexible, and more autonomous
In the conference’s forward-looking final presentation, Prof. Carlo Holly (RWTH Aachen Uni-versity and Fraunhofer ILT) spoke about “AI-driven innovation in photonics”. This topic now permeates every part of the process chain, from the design of optical components through quality assurance and the simulation of complex processes using digital twins, all the way to closed-loop control systems for first-time-right production in photonics.
Among the latest developments from his research are advances in self-supervised learning, which reduces the time required to train AI systems from weeks to minutes. Another innova-tion is AI-generated optics, which allows any beam profile to be changed during the process without the need for mechanical components.
According to Holly, AI is permeating all areas of laser technology—from planning to process control, where only AI can handle the flood of data, all the way to autonomous control. Self-learning machines are on the horizon, as are autonomous laboratories and factories. Work on the technology for this is underway in Aachen.
The next AKL – International Laser Technology Congress will take place in Aachen from May 3 to 5, 2028.
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There was a large turnout at “Laser Technology Live” at Fraunhofer ILT. There, researchers presented ...
Copyright: © Fraunhofer ILT, Aachen, Germany / Andreas Steindl.
Fraunhofer ILT in Aachen is developing a highly complex laser-optical system for a quantum computer ...
Copyright: © Fraunhofer ILT, Aachen, Germany / Ralf Baumgarten.
From April 22 to 24, 2026, the AKL’26 took place in Aachen. There, more than 90 speakers briefed the 544 experts on the current state of in-dustrial laser technology.
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There was a large turnout at “Laser Technology Live” at Fraunhofer ILT. There, researchers presented ...
Copyright: © Fraunhofer ILT, Aachen, Germany / Andreas Steindl.
Fraunhofer ILT in Aachen is developing a highly complex laser-optical system for a quantum computer ...
Copyright: © Fraunhofer ILT, Aachen, Germany / Ralf Baumgarten.
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